Noble Energy Exits Marc/Utica, Sale to HG Energy Closes for $1.1B

In May, Noble Energy dropped a bombshell that it is selling its 100% interest in 385,000 Marcellus/Utica acres and wells producing 415 million cubic feet equivalent of natural gas in West Virginia and Pennsylvania for $1.225 billion to “an undisclosed buyer” (see Noble Energy Sells Remaining M-U Assets for $1.2B – Who Bought?). Noble will use the money from the sale to pay down essentially all of the debt the company incurred from its recent $2.7 billion purchase of Clayton Williams Energy–a deal that expanded Noble’s “core Delaware Basin position” (i.e. the Permian Shale in Texas, an oil play). At the time of the announcement, MDN was the only news source that correctly identified the “undisclosed buyer”–which is HG Energy (headquartered in Parkersburg, WV), backed with money from investment firm Quantum Energy Partners. Noble didn’t identify the buyer until earlier this week, when they issued another announcement that the deal is now done. In this latest announcement, Noble did identify HG Energy as the buyer. An interesting aside: The original announcement pegged the deal at $1.225 billion. In the end, it turned out to be $1.125 billion–$100 million less than the original asking price…